Having survived shareholder challenge to his family’s influence at the helm of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch says the company is well-positioned for strong performance and the market likes what it is doing.

Murdoch told News Corp’s annual general meeting in Los Angeles that the company’s internal restructuring in the wake of the UK telephone hacking scandal and a plan to split the media giant into two separate entities will ensure better performance and greater shareholder value.

News’s chief executive and chairman admitted the company had endured “a difficult period in our 50 year history".

But, he added: “I believe the numbers will bear out that the market likes the work we are doing and has confidence in our future".

He also guaranteed completion of a company buyback from shareholders with $US4.6 billion ($A4.51 billion) of a $US10 billion authorised fund pool spent to date on 260 million shares of Class A common stock.

“Although our pace has recently slowed, we are fully-committed to completing the balance of this buy back," he told a live audience of about 80 in the Daryl F Zanuck Theater on the Fox Studio compound in Hollywood.

The meeting was also webcast on the News Corporation site.

Murdoch, for the second straight year, faced shareholder challenges to his dual position as chairman and CEO and the make-up of the News Corporation board, including the presence of his sons Lachlan and James.

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The Murdoch family’s control of about 40 per cent of shareholder votes ensured the challenges had little chance of success and the mogul announced “preliminary" results had quashed calls for fundamental changes in management as well as attempts to make the voting process more inclusive for all shareholders.

But, unlike last year, it was a relatively subdued atmosphere at the meeting, giving 81-year-old Murdoch the chance to paint a rosy picture of the company’s recent achievements and its future direction, under his guidance.

“Since addressing shareholders a year ago, our stock price has risen about 45 per cent," he said, adding that adjusted total segment operating income grew 13 per cent and adjusted earnings per share were up 19 per cent to $US1.41 per share.

News Corp has said a majority of shareholder votes have rejected a move to separate the joint roles mogul Rupert Murdoch holds as chairman and chief executive of the media giant.

Proposals would have separated the chairman and CEO role held by company patriarch Mr Murdoch and would have eliminated News Corp’s dual class stock structure, which gives the Murdoch family voting control of the company.

The results were announced at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday. News Corp will announce final voting results after the meeting.